victims after government request SEOUL, AUG 18, SPA -- The U.N. food agency said Fridayit will deliver emergency aid to North Koreans affected bylast month's heavy flooding after the communist nationreversed its previous refusal to accept international help, AP REPORTED. The World Food Program is sending 150 tons of wheat flourand vegetable oil to feed 13,000 people for a month inNorth Korea's Songchon county, about 80 kilometers (50miles) northeast of the capital, Pyongyang, Beijing-basedWFP spokesman Gerald Bourke told The Associated Press. Heavy rains in mid-July caused severe floods inimpoverished North Korea, but the government initially toldinternational agencies operating there that it would handlethe disaster on its own and didn't want them to launch anappeal on its behalf. The North's official media said the disaster killed«hundreds» without providing specifics, but a SouthKorean aid group has claimed the casualty toll is muchhigher at nearly 58,000 dead and missing. Bourke said he had no detailed information on casualtiesfrom the disaster as the WFP doesn't compile such figures. The North told the WFP last week it was willing to acceptaid, Bourke said, reversing its earlier refusal of theagency's offer. «We kept the offer there and it has now been accepted,»Bourke said. «We are open to other requests.» North Korea also told South Korea this week it wouldaccept emergency aid, and the countries' Red Crosssocieties were to meet Saturday at the North's DiamondMountain tourist resort to discuss details. Last year, the North called for a halt to internationalaid, claiming it didn't want to create a culture ofdependency. However, the country still accepted Chinese andSouth Korean assistance, which comes with much lessstringent monitoring than required by the WFP to ensure theneedy are receiving the aid. South Korea refused to discuss regular aid to the North inJuly after the country test-launched a barrage of missilesover international objections and maintained its boycott oftalks on its nuclear weapons program. In the wake of thefloods, Seoul decided to offer emergency aid but said itspolicy to suspend regular aid was still in place. Earlier this year, the WFP and North Korea agreed on asmaller two-year program to feed 1.9 million people at acost of US$102 million (¤80 million). The agency hadpreviously fed some 6 million North Koreans a year. Bourke said the new emergency relief would be subject tocomplete monitoring as are all WFP deliveries in NorthKorea. The food is being moved from a reserve already in place inthe North in case of emergency. However, Bourke said thenew two-year food program was severely underfunded, withonly some 8 percent donated so far of the amount needed. «There are significant ongoing requirements for food aidin (North Korea), which have increased as a result of theflooding,» Tony Banbury, WFP's regional director for Asia,said in a statement. --SPA www.spa.gov.sa/383517